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The Chronicles of Rina Balan - Part SEVEN |
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North Bay
Rina went to see Arulia. They’d been talking through the ear piece but she couldn’t ever respond unless she was alone. It was say nothing or respond in a very odd way that tried not to make her look insane. She walked into the Bay and found Arulia.
“Hey kid,” said Arulia as she switched to hologram.
“Hey,” said Rina as she sat down in the pilot’s chair, “It’s been a long day.”
“I know. You impressed them.”
“You think?”
“Yes, definitely. Saving the Headmaster’s life, they owe you that.”
“That’s not why I did it. The assassin threw his stupid little knife too close to me, it was annoying.”
“You’re such a cynic.”
“A what?”
“A cynic, believer that people are insincere: somebody who believes that human actions are insincere and motivated by self-interest, somebody sarcastic: somebody sneering and sarcastic.”
“And Fera says I talk without emotion.”
“Basically it means you’re a very angry person, a pessimist, someone who thinks everything is bad.”
“I never said it was bad exactly, I just said it was annoying.”
“If you’re going to fit in here, you’re going to have stop scoffing the whole world around you. But all humans are like that. You don’t understand something and there for you believe it’s not good.”
“Whatever. What do you think my advanced lessons are going to be like?”
“I don’t know, but right now I’m more worried about your first day.”
“Tomorrow?”
“Do you think you can handle it?”
“I think I can try it.”
“Are you sure?”
“As long as you’re in my ear I’ll be fine.”
“I hope so. Do want to review?”
“Okay.”
“Now you address all teachers as-?”
“Sir.”
“Or-?”
“Madame.”
“Or-?”
“By their military rank.”
“Very good. And you are a -?”
“Cadet.”
“Good, you call class mates you are not close by-?”
“Their last name and if we’ve never met Cadet Last Name.”
“A normal greeting with a classmate is-?”
“Hey or hi.”
“And how do you react when a superior officer enters the room?”
“Stand up and salute.”
“Who’s a superior officer?”
“Anyone who’s not a student, especially all teachers.”
“Very good.”
“Thank you.”
“You tired?”
“A little.”
“Try and get some sleep.”
“Okay.”
“Just wear the uniform tomorrow but you might want to ask Fera for something to sleep in, some pajamas or something.”
“Pajamas?”
“Clothes you sleep in.”
“What’s wrong with what I am wearing right now?”
“They’re just more comfortable.”
“Okay.”
“Sleep tight.”
“Okay.”
“It means have a good night sleep.”
“I knew that.”
Colonel Trev’s Office
Pato entered Colonel Trev’s office when he was done with his business in the North Bay. He had been instructed to come after he was done. All he had to do was knock, unlike Rina who had to wait around until she was called in.
“Sir?” asked Pato, “You called?”
“Yes, yes, come in,” said Trev.
“You wanted to see me, sir?”
“Yes, sit down, we need to talk.”
“About Rina Balan, I hope, sir.”
“You hope?”
“No offense, sir, but I could use at least a little explanation.”
“So could I.”
“Sir?”
“Did she tell you about the exam?”
“Yes, sir, did she really kick The Beast through a wall?”
“Yep, and not just that, she stopped an assassination attempt on the Headmaster.”
“Did she?”
“No one else saw it coming at all.”
“Not even you sir?”
“No, and she spotted every single hidden guard in the room.”
“All of them?”
“Exactly.”
“How?”
“That’s what I’d like to know.”
“Do you want me to spy on her, sir?”
“Not spy.” He gave Pato a look.
“Oh.”
“She’s strong, fast, observant and very, very weird. She’s smart, knows things about technology but not culture.”
“I see, sir.”
“So, do we have an understanding?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You are dismissed Cadet.” Pato stood up bowed his head and left.
Piloting Practice
Rina woke up in the middle of the night again last night. She hoped she hadn’t woken up Fera, who had been nice enough to lend her pajamas. Arulia’s was right, they were comfortable. But they were also too big and Fera had asked a lot of question about how she had come to the Academy without pajamas. But right now she was completely captivated by what was going on around her. As a special treat for the first day all of the first year students were allowed to see second year students in class. The Academy had two years of study, the first year was just study and the second year was actual practice.
The pilot class was going to be having a lot of fun today. They were on a jump pad. The second year pilots were jumping. It basically included shooting up in the air and coming back down. It was trickier than it sounded. If the ship even went up at the slightest angle it would not come down in the same place. The pilot had to have perfect focus because it was loud and shaky in the pod and if the thrusters didn’t go off at the right moment the pod might crash. But all of these pilots had been in thousands simulations.
“Watch as he fires up the engines,” said her instructor. His name was Sergeant Zalor and he was a fat, short man. He had such a happy, friendly, round face and sideburns that made him look kind of like a monkey. Everything about him had a way of screaming, “teddy bear” to his students. The pod directly in front of them started shaking as it powered up.
“Cool,” said someone.
“Yes, Cadet, it is ‘cool’ but if he’s not careful he might burn up too much fuel and class do you know what’ll happen?”
“He’ll crash; burn, crash and explode,” said Rina and they stared at her, not that she noticed; she was staring at the pod with fascination.
“That is correct, Cadet Balan.”
“Thank you sir.”
“Okay. Now he’s going to lift off. Watch carefully, now.” A blast of fire shot out of the bottom of the pod and it went flying straight up.
“What’s so hard about going straight up?” asked a cadet, “If all four engines burn at the same time it will of course go up straight.”
“You are assuming that they fire up at the same time,” said Rina, “There are two controllers in the pod, one controls each side.”
“Why?”
“Because the pods aren’t designed to land in the same place, they were made to go places. They just go up and down in piloting practice because the pilots don’t need to go anywhere else. Plus it’s a good way to practice controlling a ship.”
“Thank you again, Cadet Balan,” said Zalor.
“You’re welcome, sir.”
“May I ask how you know this?”
“It’s quite obvious if you have any sense of logic, plus there’s a small window for the pilots to look out through, you can also see through it and you can the controls from here.” Rina pointed at a pod that had just landed.
“The windows are tinted.”
“Not very well.”
“Fine, whatever. Do you have be so annoyingly observant?”
“Do you think I’m being annoyingly observant, Pato?”
“Seeing as how you spotted me, yes.” Pato walked out from where he was hiding.
“Was I not supposed to?”
“It’s fine, I just wanted to watch you without you knowing, I guess that’s never going to happen.”
“Next time would you like me to pretend I don’t notice you?”
“No.” He put a hand on her shoulder and after a while, when she refused to stop staring at it, he removed it.
“So why are you here except to spy on me?”
“Lunch is soon, I was wondering if you and Fera’d like to eat with me and my friends so this time you don’t have to beat me up so you won’t have to move.”
“Okay,” said Rina, shrugging.
“Hey, Sgt Zalor can I borrow Rina?”
“Yes, take her, so I can actually teach something today.”
“Huh?”
“Rina, you were getting on his nerves,” explained Arulia.
“Oh, sorry, Sgt Zalor, sir.”
“Just go.” Pato grabbed her by the elbow and dragged her down the hall.
“So are you enjoying your first day?”
“Just say yes, you don’t have to know what enjoy means,” said Arulia.
“Yes. It’s very interesting, the pods.”
“I know, I remember the first time I saw them, I couldn’t wait to get inside one.”
“Exactly. Why weren’t you flying?”
“My jump class isn’t until later. Plus I’m an advanced student like you, I got to fly half way through my first year. That class just got out of the simulators.”
“Does that mean I’ll-?”
“Yep, you’ll be flying before anyone. You’re first jump will be before break.”
“Break?”
“Winter break, classes are suspended when the weather gets to irregular. People go home for the holidays, visit their families.”
“Oh.”
“So lets have some lunch shall we?”
“Okay.” He dragged her towards the dinning hall.
 Zegwarian310 · Fri Aug 24, 2007 @ 09:56pm · 1 Comments |
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